Fascism

The fasces, an ancient Roman symbol appropriated for fascism (among other things). It's hard to break, but also too unwieldy to be used (much like fascism itself).

Suppress the dissenters Fascism

Bundle of rods

Alt-right Nazism Neo-Nazism

Fascists

Alex Jones (slovensky) Candace Owens Augusto Pinochet Louis McFadden

Groups

Secret police Occidental Dissent PragerU Quora Alternative for Germany Yugoslav Wars Ilbe v - t - e

Fascism is a term applied to a fairly diverse range of historical regimes, but is generally agreed to refer to a system of far-right authoritarianism and totalitarianism characterized by its obsession with the nation and often race, severe regimentation of society,^[2] and extreme levels of political violence aimed at purifying and expanding the state. The first real fascist movement emerged in Italy shortly after World War One, and the ideology was largely defined by the writings of Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party, who came into power in that nation between 1922 and 1943.^[3][4] After this, the movement diversified and spread across Europe, eventually becoming prominent in regimes such as Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and Francisco Franco's Spain. There were also significant but unsuccessful fascist movements in democratic states as well, such as the Silver Legion of America in the United States,^[5] and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists in the United Kingdom. Fascism saw its downfall after World War Two and the subsequent revelation that one of the most prominent fascist states had committed the most horrifying mass murder and genocide in modern history. Unfortunately, despite the misconception among the masses that fascism was simply an old historical phenomenon, the ideology still survives in whole or in parts to this day, such as neo-Nazism and other fascist ideologies and movements, surviving to the present by evolving in whatever nation and time period it manifested in.^[6] Indeed, there are still various fascism apologists yearning for the "good old days"^{[note 1]} ("Franco did good things",^[7] "Mussolini did good things",^[8] "Hitler did good things."^{[9]:132[note 2]} or the alt-right's "did nothing wrong"). We already fought a giant war over this trash.

Attempts at definition[edit]

It's rather difficult to pin down an exact definition of what fascism actually means, as it was originally a very fluid ideology cobbled together by Mussolini based on whatever he thought would be popular in post-1918 Italy.^[10] Ian Kershaw (a historian on the subject) wrote on this issue, that "trying to define 'fascism' is like trying to nail jelly to the wall."^[11]:228 Another difficulty arises from the fact that successful fascist politicians often ignored the promises and documents they made before coming to power.^[12] However, fascism has some general characteristics: militaristic and often expansionist nationalism (e.g., irredentism), contempt for the democratic process, contempt for both capitalist democracy and leftist socialism, a belief in a natural hierarchy (e.g. caste), and a desire to subordinate individual interests to the will of the dictator.^[13] It also often demands a "cleansing" of "inferior" individuals and ethnic groups who are not seen as contributing to a unified society.

In the 1920s and 1930s, communists came to lump all their radical opponents together under the label of "fascist" (alongside "imperialist"), and conversely to regard their fascist enemies as defenders of capitalism. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler described both capitalism and socialism as two sides of the same coin (both being allegedly controlled by Jews),^[14] and most of fascism's reputation as a right-wing philosophy came from its staunch anti-communism, nationalism, and reactionary social views. Nonetheless, after 1925, its economic program was broadly populist and called for heavy state-intervention in the economy, albeit both Mussolini's fascists and Hitler's Nazis were supported and funded by capitalists, and their economic policies were distinctly pro-corporatist (although varying fascist movements' relations to capitalism and socialism varied).^[15]

From this line of thinking was born the recent addition to the vernacular of using "fascist" as a snarl word (from both the left and right) to refer to any opponent,^[16] a practice which has proliferated to the point that the word fascist has lost all meaning in the historical sense.^{[note 3]} Some on the right have also used 'cultural Marxist' or 'communist' as a snarl word against any opponent.

According to Jason Stanley, the one invariable of fascism is a nostalgic appeal to the mythic past, including the idealized patriarchal family.^[17]:3-4 The idealization of the patriarchal family is necessary to support the idea of a patriarchal national leadership in fascism.^[17]:4 In both Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, the past was intentionally mythical:^[17]:5[18]

Such mythologizing of patriarchy and the family finds expression in Kinder, Küche, Kirche, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and anti-abortion.^{[17]:7-8,135-137}

McNeill[edit]

Despite difficulties in pinning down just what fascism is, historian John McNeill has attempted to arrive at a semi-quantitative assessment for fascism — using Mussolini and Hitler as standards, and the following categories (using the 'Benito' as the unit of measurement):^[19][20]

Using these categories, McNeill attempted to come up with an assessment of the accuracy of the many people who call Donald Trump a fascist. In 2016, shortly before Trump's winning the US Presidential election election, McNeill assessed Trump as having 26/44 (59%) Benitos,^[19] and several weeks before the 2020 election of having 47/76 (62%) Benitos.^[20] McNeill assessed Trump as so far "not a genuine fascist", but nonetheless stated that Trump "remains the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War."^[20] McNeil has not rated Trump following the 2021 U.S. coup attempt, but it would seem that he would only gain at most another 3 Benitos from his 2020 evaluation (2 more for militarism and 3 more for glorification of violence) for a total of 52/76. This perhaps shows weakness in this methodology for either predicting fascist tendencies or for quantifying fascists.

Paxton[edit]

Robert Paxton gave a definition of fascism in his classic book on the subject, The Anatomy of Fascism:

Individual elements of the definition do not necessarily indicate fascism, but rather the group of the elements. For example, 'energy' is required of all successful political movements. More extreme elements may or may not indicate what some researchers also regard as para-fascism (below). In addition, many of these elements in modern fascist ideologies may not match up with past fascist ideologies, as they are not one to one comparisons but rather contrasts based on the historical eras they appeared in.

Here are presented a classical example of fascism,^[21]:218 Nazism, and two similar modern examples, Trumpism and Putinism:

Aspect of fascism	Generic	Nazism	Trumpism	Putinism
Decline	Good old days, Golden age	World War 1, Holy Roman Empire, German Empire, Roman Empire[22]	Worshipping 1950s and 1960s America[23]	Worshipping the Soviet Union and Stalinism,[24][25][26] the Russian Empire,[27] the Kievan Rus[28][29]
Humiliation	Loss of territory, defeat in war	Treaty of Versailles, Afro-French soldiers participating in occupying the Rhineland[30]	Lost Cause of the South,[31] The Great Replacement,[32] 9/11,[33] end of Jim Crow and beginning of desegregation and integration[34][35]	The collapse of the Soviet Union[36][37]
Victimhood	Victim mentality, Persecution complex	Stab-in-the-back legend	Trump's claims of being targeted by the “deep state” and “internal forces” being a sinister threat,[38] Antifa November 4th conspiracy theories[39]	Putin's claims of Russia being encircled by "unfriendly forces"[40] and his claims of a Western-backed fifth column,[41] and NATO’s expansion in Europe during the Soviet era and the Russian era.[42]
Unity	Different (in)groups uniting under a common goal	Gleichschaltung, the subordination of all political and social life under the Nazi Party in the name of national unity.[43]	QAnon, various far-right rallies such as Unite the Right, alt-right, religious right	Night Wolves Motorcycle Club,[44][45] Russian Orthodox Church,[46] Russian mafia[47]
Energy	Mass rallies dedicated to the Grand Poobah, paramilitary marches	Nuremberg rallies	MAGA rallies	Putin rallies (pro-war rallies in occupied Crimea,[48] 2019 far-right motorcycle rally[49]).
Purity	anti-immigration, anti-religious sentiment, ethnic cleansing, genocide, nationalism, racism	Eugenics, Aktion T4, Kinder, Küche, Kirche, the Holocaust, Racial policy of Nazi Germany	homophobia, transphobia, American exceptionalism, xenophobia (mostly islamophobia, latinophobia, and sinophobia), white nationalism, banning abortion[50]	Political alliance with Russian Orthodox Church,[51] nationalism, homophobia and transphobia,[52] pan-Slavism in the form of 'Eurasianism'[53]:89 Broadly: opposing "destructive ideology" of the West (feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, independent journalism, democracy), and supporting women as baby incubators[54]
Mass-based party of committed nationalist militants	Official party para-military wing(s)	Freikorps, Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel (including the Waffen-SS)	militia movement, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Boogaloo movement, Alt-right	Corporate security forces armed with Russian military weapons,[55] private militia groups such as the Wagner Group[56]
Uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites	Corporations and elites aiding the Grand Poobah	German industrialists and elites	GOP, corporal elites such as the Koch brothers and Wilks brothers, tech giants such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckberg, and Jeff Bezos	Russian oligarchy[57]
Abandons democratic liberties	Opposition to the rule of law and human rights and introducing authoritarianism and totalitarianism	Consolidating power from declaring emergency powers after the Reichstag burning[58]	bullshit voter fraud claims in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, restricting voting rights, refusal to accept election results	Rigged elections,[59] poisoning numerous dissenters,[60] fining and imprisoning opposition politicians,[61] insane brutality by Chechen forces against the citizenry.[62]
Pursues with redemptive violence without ethical or legal constraints goals of internal cleansing	coup d'état, genocide, state terror, politicide, labor camps, torture, etc.	Beer Hall Putsch, Night of the Long Knives, Kristallnacht, Holocaust	Trump's violence against his political opponents,[63] crackdowns and kidnappings against BLM and Antifa protesters,[64][65] MAGA terrorism,[66] 2021 U.S. coup attempt	Poisonings of opponents both within Russia and internationally,[67] kidnapping and beating gay men in Chechnya,[68] forcing minorities to fight in wars[69]
External expansion	Irredentism, Imperialism, Expansionism, Colonialism (sometimes), Annexation, World domination	Lebensraum, Generalplan Ost, World War II	Wanting to seize Greenland from Denmark against the wishes of the Inuit,[70] various violations of indigenous land rights,[71] expansion of US military operations in the Caribbean,[72] Operation Gideon[73] Suggesting invading Canada and Mexico[74]	Seizure by force of Transnistria (1990), Abkhazia (1990), South Ossetia (1991), and Crimea (2014); proxy war in Donbas (2014); full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022)

Stanley[edit]

Jason Stanley described fascism in a functional way in his book How Fascism Works, describing the methodology of fascism in 10 interlinked beliefs:^[17]

Ideology[edit]

Fascist ideology centres on national unity behind a single revered dictator and for the idea that citizens must serve the state (as opposed to most forms of liberal democracy, which have an inverse view of this relationship). Fascism is largely remembered for its oppressive treatment of citizens, infringements on personal freedoms, and ruthless crushing of opposition. It usually requires a cult of personality around a single central figure, hero worship, and a strong emphasis on a particularly militaristic view of national security. A running theme in fascist regimes is the concept of palingenetic ultranationalism, or that there must be an "organic" revolution that will lead to a national rebirth to a more pure era that will do away with decadence and weakness within the nation. Rarely are there many specifics given on what this may look like or how to reach this "rebirth", but it is nevertheless strongly identified with fascism, to the point where some say it is the primary difference between fascist regimes and other right-wing dictatorships.^[76] In this way, fascism could be considered an extreme (or just different) take on reactionary political philosophies.

Fascist economics[edit]

Hitler takes part in a public works project for a propaganda photoshoot.

During fascism's "theoretical" phase, fascist thinkers tried to present the ideology as a happy medium between the excesses of capitalism in the West and the hideous persecution seen by the Soviet Union's brand of communism.^[77] Fascists argued that a nation's economy could be bettered by allowing the government the means of indirect control, such as through domination of cartels and businesses, and requiring capitalists to use their property in the "national interest".^[78] In Italy, Mussolini's economic plans finally manifested themselves as a sort of corporatism; his government grouped businesses and trade unions into government-controlled corporations, which handled everything from labor contracts to production quotas.^[79] In the Dictionary of Political Thought, Roger Scruton describes corporatism like this:^[80]:145

In other words, Mussolini's quasi-socialist pretensions were simply another means to achieve totalitarian control over Italy's economy.

This holds true elsewhere for all aspects of fascist economics. Despite some socialistic rhetoric, fascists by-and-large remained loyal to the traditional class divisions of old; they favored the interests of the rich over the interests of the poor. While Mussolini was by no means a free-market capitalist, he maintained friendly relations with those overseas, especially in the United States by allowing foreign investment ties.^[81][82] As historian John Weiss noted, "Property and income distribution and the traditional class structure remained roughly the same under fascist rule. What changes there were favored the old elites or certain segments of the party leadership."^[83] Referring to Nazi rule in Germany, historian Roger Eatwell said, "If a revolution is understood to mean a significant shift in class relations, including a redistribution of income and wealth, there was no Nazi revolution."^[83] Even Mussolini prior to World War Two allowed business owners to do whatever they wanted, and he also cut business taxes, slackened work conditions laws, and reduced mandatory wages.^[83]

National renewal[edit]

France's "National Revolution". Let's replace that awful "internationalism" and "democracy" with "courage" and "order"!

Fascists also believe that liberal democracy is obsolete and that the full mobilization under fascism is the only way to prevent national or even civilizational decline.^[85]:237-237 Fascists view their assumption of power as a "course correction"^[86] that is needed to prevent the collapse of their way of life. This collapse is usually viewed as being caused by certain undesirable groups of people such as liberals, Jews, or leftists. Fascism promotes the regeneration of the nation by purging it of decadence.^[87]:168 This is why fascists aestheticized modern technology, especially as it relates to industrial efficiency and wartime violence.^[88]:63

A particularly revealing case study of this phenomenon is Vichy France. During the reign of Philippe Pétain, the government enacted a series of reforms under an ideological program called the "National Revolution" which aimed to reverse a perceived decline of the French nation due to liberal decadence, a perceived disrespect for traditional values, and (of course) the evil Jews.^{[89][90]:166-189} None of this was forced on the French by Nazi Germany; this was the culmination of decades of monarchist and conservative resentment after the French Revolution, which came to a head after France's humiliation in the opening campaigns of World War Two.

This is why fascist movements tended to emerge after instances of national suffering. The Nazis wanted to reverse the horrid conditions Germany suffered after the Great War (which they viewed as being caused in large part by the Jews); the Italians wanted much the same. The Spanish Civil War was preceded by decades of social tension between conservative monarchists and the urban working class.^[91] In each case, far-right elements of society came into conflict with other groups, whom they then blamed for causing whatever problems they perceived as affecting society. They then took power and exacted retribution, which took the form of bloody massacres and purges.

Unfortunately, this is perhaps the most enduring aspect of fascism. The far-right still like to fearmonger about fading "traditional values" and "morality" and point to what they claim is a civilizational decline being caused by the increasing influence of modern liberalism.^{[92][93][94][95]} It's the same shit. It's always been the same shit.

Nationalism and racism[edit]

A concentration camp during Italy's genocidal campaigns in colonial Libya.

The logical next step from the fascist concept of a needed national renewal is a general sense of extremist nationalism. The concept of the nation was of central importance to fascists, and Mussolini's break with socialism came about due to the fact that socialists held class in higher regard.^[97]:191-192 Fascists historically viewed the nation as a singular entity that binds people together through shared heritage and culture.^[98]:80-107 Fascists wanted to replace internationalist class conflict with nationalist class cooperation.^[99]

Fascists were and are typically racist, usually holding that non-European races are inherently inferior (or in the case of Japanese fascism non-Japanese); they historically also almost always promoted some form of imperialism,^[100]:11 although this seems to be less common in the modern postcolonial era. Nazism, meanwhile, can be most characterized by its obsession with the concept of race, much of which stems from the strict pseudoscientific racial hierarchy described in Hitler's Mein Kampf.^[101]

Nationalism also led fascists to be hostile towards immigrants, particularly left-wing immigrants. This was most noticeable in France when Nazi policies were driving refugees into France; fascist thinkers in France criticized the government for accepting immigrants out of "foolish sentimentality" and for turning France into a "depository for trash."^[99] There was also the usual longstanding fearmongering over the idea that immigrants were actually infiltrating France to act as spies, an attitude which likely contributed to the antisemitic Dreyfus affair.^[102]

Pseudo-conservatism[edit]

Three uniformed of the League of German Girls, a Nazi organization for German girls and women.

Fascists appear to share some similar social views with conservatives on a surface level.^[103] Fascist Italy, for instance, cracked down on pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, and birth control as degenerate sexual deviancy, although local authorities were sporadic in their enforcement of these laws.^[104]:46-47 Nazi Germany viewed homosexuality as degenerate, and persecuted homosexuals by sending them to concentration camps.^[105]

Gender roles were strictly enforced under Mussolini's government, with the man himself saying "War is to the man what maternity is to the woman."^[106]:205 The state gave financial incentives to women to birth as many children as they could; this was part of an effort to boost birthrates and expand the Italian population.^[107]:27 After all, more babies eventually means more soldiers. The Nazis also encouraged traditional gender roles for women, even going so far as to borrow Mussolini's idea and bestow medals upon women who gave birth to four or more children. The fascists' solution to unemployment was to boot women out of the workplace, with Mussolini saying that working was "incompatible with childbearing."^[108]:15

The Nazis had a complicated relationship with abortion; they were fine with it if the fetus was known to have a genetic defect or was from a non-Aryan parent, but they were unrelentingly opposed to the practice otherwise. In certain cases, abortion was compulsory.^[109]:30

However, despite these seeming similarities in social views, fascism heavily differed from conservativism in that it was a modernist and revolutionary ideology.^[110] Conservatives tend to use tradition and religion as the basis for their political views, while fascists based their views on secular or pseudoscientific philosophies, and fascists also deviated from the moral principles of traditional society.^[111]:24 Fascists did not view religion as an important source of moral principles, and instead replaced it with ultranationalism and a cult of personality.^[87]:10 Furthermore, while conservatives in interwar Europe generally wished to return to the pre-1914 status quo, fascists did not and instead embraced World War I as a catalyst for radical change.^[87]:9 Rather than preserving or returning to the past, fascists sought to replace the old social order with a new uniquely fascist social order. Thus, fascism was anti-conservative as much as it was anti-liberal and anti-communist.^[21]:11

Direct action[edit]

Nazi "Brownshirts" in Berlin.

Fascist dictatorships are usually not just content with a silent, obedient population, but expect the people to actively come out and support the regime (i.e., the "energy" and "national militant" aspects described by Paxton^[21]:218). A successful fascist dictatorship will rely more on public opinion than on sheer oppression. This is another point where fascism differs from other right-wing dictatorships, which usually rely on little more than oppression and which try to shut down public opinion.

This is because fascism emphasizes "direct action", up to and including political violence, as a core method of achieving its aims.^[111]:106 Fascism exalts the concept of the "endless struggle", for without struggle, they believe society will decay and collapse due to its own decadence. This set of beliefs is a big part of why most fascist parties formed their own private death squads before coming to power; it was their way of committing acts of political violence and of mobilizing the citizenry.

Social Darwinism[edit]

"60,000ℛℳ is what this person suffering from a hereditary defect costs the People's community during his lifetime."

Social Darwinism is a core component of fascist belief.^{[100]:485–486} Central to their ideology is the concept that nations and races must rid themselves of those individuals rendered weak by disease, mental illness, or political or social "degeneracy" in order to survive in a world defined by constant struggle.^[18]:59 Social Darwinism was embraced by fascists because it helped them legitimize their focus on racial identity and the role of organic societal relations.^[113]

Naturally, this led to a number of fascist atrocities aimed at ridding society of its weakest members. Most infamous is Aktion T4^[114] run by Nazi Germany, which was an effort to euthanize people with physical and mental disabilities, as well as those afflicted with severe illness or old age. The Holocaust can also be seen as an extension of this, as the Nazis believed that Jews were actively harmful to the functioning of their organic society, thus necessitating mass murder. Meanwhile, the fascist need to create greater numbers of "strong" people led to the population growth programs seen above, where fascists would encourage women of their preferred national race to give birth to as many children as possible.

Social Darwinism was also extended by fascists to the nation-scale as well. "Survival of the fittest" was used to justify fascist imperialism,^[115] as strong nations would naturally dominate the weaker as nature dictates. Weaker nations were composed of weaker people, and thus fascists saw no need to accommodate the needs of those they conquered. In fact, those people that fascists considered to be weak were often eliminated, most infamously during the Holocaust, but also during the massacres committed by Mussolini in colonial Libya and Ethiopia.

In summary: the balance sheet of fascism[edit]

In Introducing Fascism: A Graphic Guide, Stuart Hood provides what he likens to a "balance sheet" of fascism — which is to say, a non-exhaustive list of traits and attitudes that make out the core of the historical fascist regimes:^[116]:88-89

Fascist regimes in Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan were superficially varied, drawing on different histories and traditions. But they had some or all of the following in common:

1. A political philosophy which was a compound of radical ideas and mysticism, of left-wing-sounding slogans and conservative policies.
2. A strong state with a powerful executive which did not require democratic consultation before acting, combined with a hatred of bourgeois democracy.
3. Hatred of Communism and Socialism as political movements based on the idea of class differences and class antagonisms. Against this idea, Fascism aimed to substitute a corporative state that denied a divergence of class interests between capital and labour.
4. The formation of a mass party on paramilitary lines which drew its recruits in part from the discontented and disenfranchised working-class.
5. Admiration of power and the deed which found expression in the cult of violence. Training for war and violence gave free rein to sadistic and pathological characteristics.
6. Authoritarian programmes which emphasized conformity, discipline and submission. Society was militarized and directed by a messianic leader.
7. The cultivation of irrationality — the impulse was more important than logical thought. Irrationality led to a cult of death — witness the Spanish Fascist slogan: Arriba la Muerte! — Up with Death!
8. Nostalgia for the legendary past. For instance, in Italy's case, the Roman Empire. In Germany, an appeal to primitive myths of the Nibelungen. The initials SS were written in runic letters from Viking times. Japan resurrected the medieval code of the samurai.
9. Aversion to intellectuals whom Fascism accused of undermining the old certainties and traditional values.
10. Fascism claimed to honour the dignity of labour and the role of the peasantry as providers of the staples of life. With this went an idealized picture of rural life — the healthy countryside versus the decadent city.
11. Machismo. Women were relegated to traditional female roles as housewives, servants, nurses, and as breeders of "racially pure" warriors for the state war machine.
12. Fascism was frequently subsidized by big industrialists and landowners.
13. Fascism's electoral support came overwhelmingly from the middle-class — in particular the lower middle-class affected by economic crisis.
14. Fascism needed scapegoat enemies — "the Other" on whom to focus society's aggressions and hates.

Influences[edit]

“”In truth, we are relativists par excellence, and the moment relativism linked up with Nietzsche, and with his Will to Power, was when Italian Fascism became, as it still is, the most magnificent creation of an individual and a national Will to Power.

—Benito Mussolini[117]

It's been effectively argued (originally from Isaiah Berlin) that fascism drew upon the "Counter-Enlightenment" movement, a movement he pinned primarily to Continental German philosophy and subjectivism.^[118]:1-24 Opposing the Enlightenment ideal of rationalism and democracy but by post-World War One also opposing a return to older forms of feudalism, this movement came to be heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and his concept of the Will to Power, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's mysticism and belief in cultures as being organic units that "create" reality, and Johann Gottfried Herder's radical cultural and moral relativism. The movement was characterized by a belief in vitalism (a desire for a spiritual rejuvenation that often opposed both contemporary monotheism and atheism/agnosticism) and anti-rationalism, and a view of liberalism and modern civilization as decadent to the bone.

Para-fascism[edit]

Para-fascism is a form of fascism that shows extreme right-wing populism but lacks certain elements of fascism. Para-fascism is controversial as to whether it can be interpreted as a common fascism in academia.

By the definition of Aristotle Kallis, para-fascism can be defined as "a larger category of regimes that adapted or aped ‘fascist’ formal and organizational features, but did not share the revolutionary ideological vision of genuine fascism".^[119]:220

Para-fascists typically express ultra-nationalist sentiment and an authoritarian streak but respect democratic systems and do not support totalitarianism. For example, Chiang Kai-Shek's authoritarianism was characterized by Confucian patriarchy and Chinese chauvinism over totalitarian Thoughtcrime.^{[citation needed]}

A modern-day example would be Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who has the "arrest whistleblowers for telling the truth about my actions" style authoritarianism, the embracing of autocratic rule, the scapegoating of the LGBT community as child abusers,^[120] and the weakening of democracy to fully entrench one-party rule in his state. He even delved into mild totalitarianism by banning the teaching of gay or trans people's existence for under-10 year olds.^[121] But he is merely the governor of a state who still has to run for elections that he could very well lose. He is a preview of just how bad a post-Trump Republican Party can be.^{[note 4]}

Fascism and conservatism[edit]

Chancellor Hitler (left) and President von Hindenburg (right), in Potsdam (1933).

In practice[edit]

It is clear that fascists received some support from conservatives who saw them as allies in opposing communism. In a climate of increased polarization and instability, in which a communist takeover was viewed as a serious threat, conservatives formed coalitions expecting that the fascists would eventually be co-opted or abandon their radicalism. Hence, Hitler was allowed to form a government by Paul von Hindenburg on the advice of Franz von Papen (who were both conservatives),^[123] Mussolini was appointed prime minister by the conservative Italian King,^[124] and Spain's monarchists supported the Falange during the Civil War. In Italy,^[125] conservatives were somewhat successful at moderating the more radical elements of fascism, with the original corporativist economic policy being scrapped in favor of a more economically liberal policy; in Spain, the conservatives in the coalition eventually won out with Franco being succeeded by the hereditary King Juan Carlos I, who led Spain to democracy following Franco's death^[126] (and the failed Fascist Coup to overthrow it). In Germany, by contrast, Hitler elbowed the conservatives aside quickly after the death of Hindenburg, creating a much more totalitarian government.

Though there are (and has been) many large and significant factions of conservatives opposed to fascism (such as the Lincoln Project), quite a few American paleoconservatives and neoconservatives have used tactics and rhetoric similar to paleofascist regimes and groups, and many later dropped these optics and embraced these tactics, making them more or less fascists by proxy.^[127]

In theory[edit]

Many political philosophies called fascism in retrospect (Austrofascism, Spanish National Catholicism, etc.) were just radicalized, populist spins on conservatism. There were two exceptions to this: Italian fascism and Nazism. Conservatism does not share the revolutionary or radical nature of fascism, and does not in general make populist appeals as fascism does.^{[note 5]} Also, the original fascist program sought restructuring of the economy along corporatist lines, which is not generally supported by conservatives.

There was also the problem of the "public" versus the "private" spheres of society. Conservatives (pre-Moral Majority conservatives, at least) usually want the government to respect the private sphere: family and religious life were places that conservatives did not want the government interfering. Fascism and Nazism, however, tried to place all social life under the influence and control of the State, causing some within the Catholic Church to go against them.^[128][129]

Fascism and the Church[edit]

“”Your Excellency! The priests of Italy invoke over your person, your work as the restorer of Italy and the founder of the Reich and the Fascist government the blessing of the Lord and an eternal halo of Roman wisdom and virtue, today and forever! Duce! The servants of Christ, the fathers of the peasantry honor you loyally. They bless you. They swear loyalty to you. With pious enthusiasm, with the voice and heart of the people we call: hail the Duce!

—Father Menossi, January 12, 1938, Palazzo Venezia, to which seventy-two bishops and 2,340 priests broke out into shouting: "Duce! Duce! Duce!"[130]:23

So why was the Catholic Church ever involved in this? Well, during the early 20^th century, there were two major ideologies of various flavours floating around: Liberalism and communism. Liberalism and the ideas of freethought were very much against the structured order that an organized religion requires to thrive in, especially with ideas such as freedom of speech and all the "immorality" provided, so that was right out. Communism, despite (or because of) its similarities to a religion,^{[note 6]} mandates atheism, which is something the Church would have difficulty compromising on (there have been religious forms of communism, but they didn't catch on). So along comes a third ideology, fascism, with the ideas that we should return to the glory days of thousands of years past, we should have a very ordered and rigid society, authority should be adhered to without question, and dissenters should be forced into line or "dealt with"; this worked perfectly for the Church. The Catholic Church endorsed fascism for a time, until it became clear that the fascist leaders never had any intention of becoming subservient to the Church. So the Church has always been opposed to fascism.

The Catholic church and European fascism[edit]

The late Christopher Hitchens relates the dreadfully close and well-documented eager collaboration between the faithful members of the Catholic Church and the openly fascist right-wing extremist parties of Europe, writing;^{[131]:235-237}

Fascism — the precursor and model of National Socialism — was a movement that believed in an organic and corporate society, presided over by a leader or guide. (The "fasces" — symbol of the "lictors" or enforcers of Ancient Rome — were a bundle of rods, tied around an axe, that stood for unity and authority.)

Arising out of the misery and humiliation of the First World War, fascist movements were in favor of the defense of traditional values against Bolshevism, and upheld nationalism and piety. It is probably not a coincidence that they arose first and most excitedly in Catholic countries, and it is certainly not a coincidence that the Catholic Church was generally sympathetic to fascism as an idea. Not only did the church regard Communism as a lethal foe, but it also saw its old Jewish enemy in the most senior ranks of Lenin's party.

Benito Mussolini had barely seized power in Italy before the Vatican made an official treaty with him, known as the Lateran Pact of 1929 ^[132]. Under the terms of this deal, Catholicism became the only recognized religion in Italy, with monopoly powers over matters such as birth, marriage, death, and education, and in return urged its followers to vote for Mussolini's party. Pope Pius XI described Il Duce ("the leader") as "a man sent by providence." Elections were not to be a feature of Italian life for very long, but the church nonetheless brought about the dissolution of lay Catholic centrist parties and helped sponsor a pseudoparty called "Catholic Action" which was emulated in several countries.

Across southern Europe, the church was a reliable ally in the instatement of fascist regimes in Spain,^[133] Portugal, and Croatia. General Franco in Spain was allowed to call his invasion of the country, and his destruction of its elected republic, by the honorific title La Crujada, or "the crusade." The Vatican either supported or refused to criticize Mussolini's operatic attempt to re-create a pastiche of the Roman Empire by his invasions of Libya, Abyssinia (today's Ethiopia), and Albania: these territories being populated either by non-Christians or by the wrong kind of Eastern Christian. Mussolini even gave, as one of his justifications for the use of poison gas and other gruesome measures in Abyssinia, the persistence of its inhabitants in the heresy of Monophysitism: an incorrect dogma of the Incarnation that had been condemned by Pope Leo and the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451.

In central and eastern Europe the picture was hardly better. The extreme right-wing military coup in Hungary, led by Admiral Horthy, was warmly endorsed by the church, as were similar fascistic movements in Slovakia and Austria. (The Nazi puppet regime in Slovakia was actually led by a man in holy orders named Father Tiso.) The cardinal of Austria proclaimed his enthusiasm at Hitler's takeover of his country at the time of the Anschluss. In France, the extreme right adopted the slogan of "Meilleur Hitler Que Blum" — in other words, better to have a German racist dictator than an elected French socialist Jew.

Catholic fascist organizations such as Charles Maurras's Action Française^[134] and the Croix de Feu campaigned violently against French democracy and made no bones about their grievance, which was the way in which France had been going downhill since the acquittal of the Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus in 1899. When the German conquest of France arrived, these forces eagerly collaborated in the rounding up and murder of French Jews, as well as in the deportation to forced labor of a huge number of other Frenchmen.

The Vichy regime conceded to clericalism by wiping the slogan of 1789 — "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" — off the national currency and replacing it with the Christian ideal motto of "Famille, Travail, Patrie". Even in a country like England, where fascist sympathies were far less prevalent, they still managed to get an audience in respectable circles by the agency of Catholic intellectuals such as T. S. Eliot and Evelyn Waugh.

In neighboring Ireland, the Blue Shirt movement of General O'Duffy (which sent volunteers to fight for Franco in Spain) was little more than a dependency of the Catholic Church. As late as April 1945, on the news of the death of Hitler, President Eamon de Valera put on his top hat, called for the state coach, and went to the German embassy in Dublin to offer his official condolences.

Attitudes like this meant that several Catholic-dominated states, from Ireland to Spain to Portugal, were ineligible to join the United Nations when it was first founded. The church has made efforts to apologize for all this, but its complicity with fascism is an ineffaceable mark on its history, and was not a short-term or a hasty commitment so much as a working alliance which did not break down until after the fascist period had itself passed into history.

Catholics nowadays will point to the many Catholics, both lay people and clergy, who resisted the evils of fascism (especially in Nazi Germany) and were almost always persecuted thusly. How this lets the higher-ups in the Church who were totally cool with Nazism off the hook is a mystery.

Broadness of the term "fascism"[edit]

Stuart Hood comments on the apparent definitional wideness of the term "fascism" in contemporary society, writing;^[116]

"Fascist" has become an all-purpose word. We often use it to describe people and things we don't like. It is applied indiscriminately to figures of authority, to modes of behaviour, to ways of thinking, to kinds of architecture.

But this catch-all use of the word raises obvious questions. Are all people who could be defined in these terms really "Fascists"? Are all right-wing parties or groups, all conservative right-wing governments, necessarily "Fascist"?

Random yet typical everyday examples he provides of this loosely defined, vernacular usage of the term "fascist" include:^[116]

• People who insist that sexual liberation led to AIDS.
• People who, in a broad stroke, would systematically dismiss art as being "crap".
• People who think the educational system is in a liberal mess due to lack of old-fashioned discipline.
• People who think there's "too many darn immigrants" in their country.
• People who think law enforcement is fascist by necessity.^{[note 7]}

As is apparent, while some of these examples could be recognizable, the point stands that the term has been allowed to slide away from the actual specifics of fascist ideology. In response to this bewilderment of definition, Hood suggests a tentative ballpark definition for the wider term:^[116]

What "Fascists" have in common is that they are the enemies of liberal or left-wing thought and attitudes. They can be seen as threatening, aggressive, repressive, narrowly conservative and blindly patriotic.

Neo-Fascism[edit]

Neo-Fascism is a widespread phenomenon in today’s world, occurring from the wave of right-wing populism drummed up by xenophobes and bigots of all kinds (like Donald Trump in America). The fascism today (though still undeniably fascism) is quite different from the old fascism seen in Europe and Japan during World War 2. Many neo-fascist movements operate under democratic institutions to gain power (with the exception of Russia, which was already a dictatorship for decades).

Below are a few examples of countries with high risks of backsliding into fascism due to having significant reactionary political activity.

Ur-Fascism[edit]

Umberto Eco's 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism"^[145] put forth 14 common features of Fascism which "cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it":

1. The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
2. The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
3. The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
4. Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”
5. Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
6. Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
7. The obsession with a plot. “The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia.”
8. The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”^{[note 8]}
9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
10. Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”
11. Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”
12. Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”
13. Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”
14. Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

According to Eco, having one or more of these traits doesn't mean that a society is fascist, but that the odds increase that it will fit the definition of fascism. How these odds are computed remains to be established.

Fascism and the political spectrum[edit]

There is a considerable dispute in some circles over whether fascism is a left- or right-wing idea. This dispute consists mainly of attempts to deny that one's own side of the political spectrum has anything in common with fascism, or alternatively to slime people on the opposite side of the political spectrum by claiming such commonalities. These tactics have been carried rather far, as mentioned above, with "fascist" becoming a general insult or accusation hurled around loosely, usually inappropriately and often childishly, to criticise anyone or anything we find even slightly overbearing or restrictive.

The first bunch of people to make these sorts of claims were communists attempting to bunch fascists together with supporters of capitalism by claiming that the fascists were merely the hired guns of the bourgeois oppressors; completely ignoring that fascism, besides being anti-communist, was also to some extent anti-capitalist, supporting limited welfare programs and other non-laissez-faire economic ideas. In Germany in particular, the right-wing parties had never been on board with extreme capitalism anyway; significant state intervention on behalf of big business had been the norm since the days of Bismarck. In the Nazis' case, Hitler stated that he wished to remove the influence of the "capitalist class", whom he believed to be largely Jewish and/or Jewish-controlled, and partially restore the traditional pre-capitalist ruling system; these ideas were partially implemented when the Nazi officials nicked Jewish-owned property for the enrichment of the German people and/or themselves.^{[note 9]}

However, in practice, the fascists and Nazis didn't really change much of the economic status quo from before they took power. After all, they had come to power with the support of conservatives who wanted a strong "law and order" regime to keep down the communists, social democrats and trade unions. A large influx of conservatives forced the fascists and the Nazis to moderate or abandon anti-establishment programs — as when the anti-clerical Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Catholic Church, or when Hitler appointed the pro-capitalist Hjalmar Schacht as economics minister — and marginalize or eliminate more economically-radical factions within the fascist movements, as when Hitler purged the brothers Strasser during the Night of the Long Knives.

More recently, some conservative luminaries such as Jonah Goldberg (and also some conservative non-luminaries) have been claiming that liberals and everyone else to the left of them are "fascists." This tactic usually relies on taking the straw man broadsides heaved at liberalism by wingnuts and finding commonalities between them and some fascist program; for example, noting that Nazi Germany had large public works projects, and since liberals also favor public works projects while conservatives do not, liberals must also be fascists.^{[note 10]}

The Political Compass generally rates fascists as in the economic center, well to the left of today's right-wing politicians but well to the right of socialist figures. Generally economics is considered of secondary importance to fascists anyways except as an extension of their nationalistic and reactionary cultural views, hence the populist economics.

Left-wing fascism[edit]

The term left-wing fascism (also known as left fascism or red fascism) denotes real or perceived tendencies in extreme left-wing politics that are otherwise commonly attributed to the supposed polar-opposite ideology of fascism.See the Wikipedia article on Red fascism. In fact, fascism has always been wrapped up in leftist-sounding language — it's "a workers movement", "a populist struggle for justice", et cetera — while much of radical leftism has always endorsed the methods of authoritarian regimes, especially by excepting acts of terror from condemnation as long as they're done in the name of radical leftism.

That being said, however — the term has gained popularity among cranks, who will gleefully settle for complete non-sequiturs while bashing progressivism and feminism.^[149] Anything to generate those echo chamber clicks!

Left-wing fascism could be considered a sort of "inverse third positionism". Common qualities taken on by these extreme leftists that could be viewed as having what are essentially "fascist" traits include:

• Vehemently supporting nationalism (e.g. Socialism in One Country, Third World Socialism, "critical support for [insert nominally anti-Western nationalist movement here]")
• Hijacking progressive anti-colonial efforts to push for ethnocentric dictatorships taking the place of the former colonial masters
• A reliance on ethnic scapegoating (sometimes delving into pure racialism) and at the most extreme not-so-subtle support for race war (An example being the Holodomor or the Uyghur genocide and apologia, denial, and/or revisionism for it.)
• Celebrating a brutal "will to power" wherein violence is considered an expression of 'just protest' and is seen especially as a tool with which to "rejuvenate" a certain people/culture
• Rallying a popular movement via "channeling" a specific people/culture, often with pseudohistorical undertones and a focus on the "redemption/rebirth" of said people/culture, all done in direct opposition to more universalist liberal humanist values^{[citation needed]}
• The cultivation of frustration and outright aggression as the prime creative force for constructive change
• Rampant paranoia, whereby the far right's perceived threat of "cultural marxism" is given a different coat of paint and experienced on the far left as an equivalent threat from "scheming by imperialist financiers" (This is not to be confused with legitimate anti-capitalist critiques of imperialism. There is overlap with third positionist groups, who co-opt anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist rhetoric to appeal to a left-wing audience.)
• Wide overlap with numerous far-right conspiracy theories^[150]:217

Historical and current examples[edit]

Movements that have been accused of embodying some, or most, traits of left-wing fascism include:

Countless third-world dictatorships (often drawing on irredentism, tribalism, and millennialist theocracy) have also come to embody this ultimately null difference between the authoritarians on both the far right and far left, including those of:

Ecofascism[edit]

Ecofascism is essentially the mixture of the authoritarian/totalitarian aspects of fascism mixed in with standard green politics wrapped in hard-right politics. The progenitor of ecofascism is Nazi Germany which passed laws protecting animals and promoted Blood and Soil as part of their ideology. This seems to be more prevalent in Europe, where several political parties exist such as the Nouvelle Droite (or European New Right) of Alain de Benoist, "Third Way" in the United Kingdom (a "green" splinter from the neo-fascist National Front), the Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (Ecological Democratic Party, a right-wing splinter from the German Green Party), and groups espousing third positionism. Another was Savitri Devi, an avowed neo-Nazi who espoused animal rights, and who thought that animal slaughterhouses were worse than Nazi war crimes. The closest example of this from the U.S. is probably Virginia Abernethy, a Vanderbilt University professor who is both a widely cited expert on population and ecology and a self-avowed white separatist.^{[note 12]} Another American example would be the Wolves of Vinland, a group of Norse neopagans who have been described both as "eco-punks" and as white nationalist.^[155][156]

One now notorious example of an avowed ecofascist was the Australia-born shooter behind the Christchurch terrorist attacks in New Zealand that killed 51 people and injured 50 more. In his manifesto The Great Replacement (named after the French far-right theory of the same name by writer Renaud Camus), he declared that he was "an Ethno-nationalist, Eco-fascist" ^[157].

An early example who might count per today's standards (before either "fascism" or "environmentalism" were even coined as terms) was American Madison Grant, a conservationist, eugenicist and rabid racist who advocated an early idea like The Great Replacement, writing The Passing of the Great Race, a 1916 book Adolf Hitler later praised as "my Bible". In fairness though, his conservationism was motivated mostly by wanting to keep around certain animals for hunting.

Fascist regimes and ideologies[edit]

“”The fascism of the 1920s and 1930s, [Ivan] Ilyin's era, had three core features: It celebrated will and violence over reason and law; it proposed a leader with mystical connections to his people; and it characterized globalization as a conspiracy rather than as a set of problems.

—Timothy Snyder[53]:16

Below are several prominent examples of historical and modern fascist regimes and ideologies. Some of these regimes have been as whether or not they truly fit the mold of fascism, but many historians state these regimes have characteristics that at least make them de facto fascist. This list may not include certain fascist regimes (such as Norway under Vidkun Quisling or Hungary under Gyula Gombos).

Italian Fascism[edit]

Flag of the Kingdom of Italy
(1861-1946).

Fascist Italy, beginning in 1922 under Mussolini, is commonly considered the first fascist regime, and his methods of ruling and gaining power became an influence on Adolf Hitler and other fascists since the birth of fascism.^[158]:182 Fascist Italy is most characterized by its comical ineptitude focus on Italian nationalism (particularly on the historical Roman Empire^[159]), irredentism towards historical Italian territory, and its corporatist economic and social structure. Mussolini's take on fascism is probably the version best defined by the phrase "third positionism," but his corporatist ideals quickly broke down into the government forcing labor groups to do what the industrialists wanted.

Fascist Italy was also a colonial power in Africa, and some of its worst crimes (mostly war crimes) occurred there. Much of Mussolini's influences took direct inspiration from Ancient Rome; he explicitly wanted to recreate the Roman Empire and believed that fascism would bring about a "Third" Rome (after the original ancient Rome and the Holy Roman Empire afterwards). His speeches explicitly echoed the Risorgimento (Italian resurgence or reunification) with his talk of a "Third Rome."^[160]:136 Terza Roma (Third Rome) was also a name for Mussolini's plan to expand Rome towards Ostia and the sea, and his irredentist goals were characterized as reclaiming ancient Roman lands.^[161]

Nazism (Germany)[edit]

Flag of Nazi Germany
(1933–1945).

The National Socialist German Workers Party came to power in Germany after Hitler was named chancellor in 1933 ^[163]. From there, the regime consolidated complete control over German society. It became known for the myriad outrages committed against Germany's Jewish population beginning with fearmongering, evolving to political violence, and culminating with the Holocaust. ^[164]

The Nazi regime was also the most obsessed with race ^[165], establishing and implementing a strict racial hierarchy based on Hitler's ideas. This resulted in the passage of the Nuremberg Laws, ^[166] which criminalized interracial marriages, stripped racial minorities of citizenship rights, and defined Jews and Roma as "enemies of the race-based state". One of Hitler's other cornerstone ideals was the concept of lebensraum ^[167] ("living space"), a form of irredentism, which was his motivation to expand the German state through conquest, particularly through the fertile lands of Eastern Europe. This policy also played into the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, as well as the beginning of WWII when he invaded Poland.

Nazism, while a subset of fascism, did have some notable differences from its parent ideology. For example, while Hitler was obsessed with racial purity and racial hierarchies, Mussolini did not support racialism and antisemitism until fairly late in his rule ^[168], and seems to have mostly been doing this to help cement his alliance with the Nazis. Mussolini instead saw the nation rather than race as the rallying point for fascist unity; Hitler saw both concepts as one and the same. That being said, fascists post-WWII do tend to be racist antisemites.

Austrofascism (Austria)[edit]

Flag of the Fatherland Front (1933-1935).

Before being annexed by Nazi Germany, Austria had its own unique indigenous fascist movement and regime. This regime was led by the Fatherland Front (sound familiar?) ^[169] and was led by Engelbert Dollfuss. He was the leader of the regime until his assassination by Austrian Nazis who were against Dollfuss's regime and wanted to be annexed by and absorbed into the German Reich ^[170]. The regime began in 1933 after Austrian fascists who longed for a catholic state fought against socialists on the streets of Austria ^[171], which gave them more than enough of an excuse to grab power. This form of fascism was another heavily pro-corporate variation (alongside Salazarism and Falangism). The regime finally fell in 1935 after Dolfuss’s death followed by the initiation of the Anschluss from Nazi Germany.

Shōwa Statism (Japan)[edit]

The Rising Sun, the flag most commonly associated with the Empire of Japan (1889–1945).

Shōwa Statism is written as "国家主義"(Kokkashugi; "statism") in Japanese, "國家主義"(Guójiā zhǔyì) in Traditional Chinese and "국가주의" (Kukajuui) in Korean. Imperial Japan from the 1920s onward became dominated by the Kōdōha (or "Imperial Way") Faction which established a totalitarian military dictatorship until its forcible dissolution in 1936.^[172][173] This ideology, whilst distinctly Japanese, holds many parallels to fascism, from the glorification of violence to the Social Darwinist survival of the fittest militarism and the "great race" or propaganda, where they held themselves above all others. Fascism's machismo cult of personality was even given a distinctly Japanese (and theocratic) spin, as they had birthed-from-god emperor worship, itself a longstanding Japanese tradition from centuries of shōgun rule^[174]. Although it lost power, the Imperial Way Faction's followers retained great influence over Japanese politics, and Japan remained a military dictatorship throughout the pre-WWII Shōwa period of Japan.

Japan during this time was rabidly expansionist, and it became mired in a war with China from 1937-onwards, then invaded most of Southeast Asia for oil reasons.^[175] The Japanese people had long resented the Western imperialist powers running roughshod over Asia, and sought to establish their own empire as an Asian counterweight.

Japanese military expansionism resulted in numerous tragic atrocities and war crimes such as the crimes of Unit 731^[176] and the Rape of Nanking^[177].

Today's ultranationalist Nippon Kaigi effectively inherits Shōwa Statism^[178], a group deeply linked to the Japanese right-wing party, the LDP. The only difference is that Japan's ultranationalists, past and present, are anti-Korean/anti-Chinese racists, but Japanese ultranationalists in the 21st century are pro-Americanists, unlike in the past.

Vichy France[edit]

Personal flag of Pétain, commonly used as a symbol of Vichy France (1940–1944).

While a puppet regime under the Nazis, the Vichy regime used its own initiative to implement many elements of the fascist state. This cannot be entirely handwaved away with the "they needed to please Germany" excuse. Under Philippe Pétain, the French government enacted a social program called the Révolution nationale ^[179], which was intended to roll back French social progress made after the original French Revolution. Indeed, Vichy France was built on the longstanding social resentment that had been held by French conservatives towards their more cosmopolitan countrymen.

Philippe Pétain became the leader of a French personality cult, with a song dedicated to his glory becoming the unofficial national anthem.^[180] He led France into becoming a totalitarian dictatorship until the end of his regime in 1944.

Although French complicity in the Holocaust is often excused as being the result of German coercion, French conservatives had long held antisemitic beliefs; this can be seen in incidents such as the Dreyfus affair. The Vel' d'Hiv Roundup is one infamous incident in which French police acted on their own to mass arrest and deport more than 13,000 Jews to the German death camps. The raid was planned and carried out primarily by French citizens, with little to no involvement by occupying German troops.^[181]

Falangism (Spain)[edit]

Flag of the Spanish Falange Party.

Falangism was the ideology followed in Francisco Franco's domination of Spain; it emphasized social conservatism and religious nationalism (especially Catholic identity) far more than most other forms of fascism.^[182]:10 Falange is the Spanish word for "phalanx", a shieldwall tactic used by the Spartans and Alexander the Great, which required extreme discipline from the soldiers to execute properly.^[183]

The Falangist ideological economic system was built on Mussolini's corporatist ideas;^[100]:466 the Spanish version was called national syndicalism but was intended to work in essentially the same way, but in its later form merged with Catholicism.^[100]:261 However, before and during the Spanish Civil War, it became necessary to accommodate the ideas of their monarchist ("Carlist") and conservative allies when the movements merged, so the Falangists largely abandoned their supposedly anti-capitalist beliefs.^[184] Thus, in practice, Franco's fascist regime more resembled an ultra-conservative brand of totalitarianism than it did anything created by the Nazis or Mussolini.

Franco's apologists like to claim that he shielded Spain's Jews from the Holocaust. However, it was discovered in 2010 that Franco had ordered the creation of a secret archive of Jewish names which was later handed over to Heinrich Himmler.^[185] Franco's regime would have cheerfully cooperated with the Holocaust had the alliance with Nazi Germany been finalized; as it was, Franco decided not to join the war due to concerns over his nation's readiness.

Falangism was not a solely Spanish phenomenon, it gained followers throughout the Latin American world (not just the Spanish speaking countries), as well as the Philippines and Lebanon, with varying levels of power and implementation.^[186]

Ustaše regime (Croatia)[edit]

The flag of the Independent State of Croatia controlled by the Ustaše (1941-1945).

A particularly cruel strain of fascism was formed in the Balkans, specifically the former Yugoslavia, a fallen country synonymous with ethnic strife and infamous for bloody ethnic clashes for much of its existence. Serbia was the hegemon of the region and many resented their reach over Croats, Slovenes, and Bosniaks. Eventually, in the outset of the Second World War, Croatian fascists, the Ustaše, directly inspired by Hitler and Mussolini, rose up through a combination of ultra-nationalism, extreme religious fundamentalism, and pathological disdain for Serbs especially.

Ustaše were utterly bugfuck irrational crackpots, absolutely fanatical even for fascists. The Ustaše believed in Nazi race theory, viewing Serbs, Jews, and Roma as subhumans who deserved little more than outright extermination, thereby making them active participants of Nazi ideology. Even Bosniaks, whom they viewed as "Muslim Croats," not Slavs, and thus did not persecute on the basis of race, were still persecuted on the basis of politics, as many Bosniaks refused to obey the Ustaše.^[188] The Ustaše were a uniquely Croatian brand of fascism, combining Nazi eugenics with Roman Catholicism and Croatian nationalism, alongside direct inspiration from and actual training by Mussolini's Italy.^[189]:125

Under their dictator, Poglavnik Ante Pavelić, they set up death camps for Serbs, Jews, Romani, and dissident Croats and Bosniaks who opposed their rule. Their most infamous death camp was Jasenovac, where one hundred thousand people, mostly Serbs, were murdered in horrifying ways, from removal of hearts and sawing off heads to disembowelment and eye-gouging, and their bodies would be thrown to a nearby river. The Ustaše were so horrifyingly brutal, even the Nazis were disgusted at the barbarity, using words like "slaughter", "atrocities", "butchery" and "terror", cataloguing hundreds of thousands of deaths overall, not just at Jasenovac. German Captain Konopatzki called an Ustaše massacre of Serb civilians in Eastern Bosnia "a new wave of butchery of innocents." Lieutenant Colonel von Wedel wrote that in western Bosnia, Ustaše killed women and children "like cattle" in a series of "bestial executions". Major Walter Kleinenberger, officer with the German 714th division, complained that Ustaše brutality "was in defiance of all laws of civilization. The Ustaše murder without exception men, women and children."^[190]

Metaxism (Greece)[edit]

The flag of the Kingdom of Greece under the Metaxas regime (1936–1941).

A less talked about but still relevant form and regime of fascism, Metaxism is the Greek (Hellenic) flavor of this reactionary ideology. It is also the proclaimed ideology of the existing far-right Neo-nazi party Golden Dawn^[192] and its splinter parties. Metaxism advocates for Hellenic racial purity, cultural homogeneity and dominance in the Balkans, removal of immigrants and minorities from Greece and the usual reactionary shit. The person after which the ideology is named after, military officer and Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas, declared that his regime was the "Third Greek Civilization", a common theme among fascists to reference the nostalgia of a distant but glorious past (like Hitler did with the Third Reich — German for "Third Realm"). Like his German and Italian contemporaries, Metaxas adopted the title of Archigos, Greek for "leader" or "chief."

Key to their ideology is its classical influences. Metaxas thought Hellenic nationalism would galvanize "the heathen values of ancient Greece, specifically those of Sparta, along with the Christian values of the Medieval empire of Byzantium."^[193] Ancient Macedonia was glorified as the first political union of the Hellenes.^[194] As its main symbol, the youth organization of the regime chose the labrys/pelekys, the symbol of ancient Minoan Crete.

Traditional Greek values of "Country, Loyalty, Family and Religion", which Metaxas praised repeatedly, were deliberately reminiscent of ancient Spartans, whose violent and blood-soaked warrior culture that modern popular culture glorifies and Metaxas damn-near deified. The regime promoted the perceived Spartan ideals of self-discipline, militarism and collective sacrifice, while Byzantium was Metaxas' example of his ideal government, emphasizing a centralized state and devotion to the monarchy and Greek Orthodox Church.^{[194]:177-178} Propaganda presented him as the "First Peasant" of the people, the "First Worker" of the state, and the "National Father" of the Greeks, bringing to mind Ancient Rome's early emperors using "Princeps" or "First Citizen" rather than emperor as their preferred titles. Metaxas claimed that his "Third Hellenic Civilization" combined the best of ancient Greece and the Greek Byzantine Empire of the Middle Ages.

Although it is common that fascists help each other to gain power, like how Hitler and Mussolini helped Franco to win the civil war in Spain, there was fascist infighting in the Second World War: Mussolini occupied Albania and invaded the northwest of Greece, in a bid to expand his power, which was in conflict with Metaxas and the Greek fascists. With great irony, because of the Italian invasion, Metaxas felt he had no choice but to align with the Allies against the Axis, but he died of illness on January 1941, shortly before the German invasion and subsequent fall of Greece. The Greek government was replaced by the Hellenic State, an Axis collaborationist puppet government. Deeply unpopular among Greeks, the Hellenic State had three prime ministers in four years: Georgios Tsolakoglou, the general who signed the unconditional surrender of the Hellenic Army to the Germans; medical doctor Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, who was himself sacked; and Ioannis Rallis, whose deep experience in politics allowed him to crack down on Greek resistance much more efficiently than his predecessors. All three were arrested alongside hundreds of other Greek collaborators after the fall of the Hellenic State.^[195]

Estado Novo (Portugal)[edit]

Flag of the second Portuguese republic.

Another example of a fascist regime that isn’t often focused on. The state was run by Antonio Salazar, the catholic dictator who turned Portugal into a militaristic and religious quasi-fascist state. The Portugal fascist regime was a visible example of pro-corporation elements present in fascism. Having developed from another previous authoritarian regime referred to as the Ditadura Nacional, the Estado Novo was installed in 1933 (during the same time other fascist dictatorships took power). This particular fascist state was heavily pro corporate^[196] and Christian fundamentalist, viewing Catholicism as an integral part of its heritage, identity, and culture.^[197]

Similar to its contemporary Falangist Spain, this religious dictatorship persisted into the mid 20th century, eventually falling to democratic revolutions during the 1970s. The revolution was led by leftists who were increasingly disillusioned with the authoritarian regime and wanted to end the system.^[198]

Stalinism/Sovietism (Soviet Union)[edit]

The flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Stalin Era (1936-1955).

“”Stalinism [took on] a regressive course, generating a species of red fascism identical in its superstructural and choreographic features [with its Fascist model].

—Bruno Rizzi, founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), in 1938[199]:193

Although many adherents of socialism and communism would reject labeling the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as fascist, such as British communist and pro-Soviet apologist Seumas Milne,^[200] many opponents would certainly make comparisons between the regime (as well as other authoritarian communist and socialist regimes) and ideology of that state with fascism. Among them: bloodsheds and genocides perpetrated under Vladimir Lenin and Stalin, gulags, the silencing of any opposition, the lack of any democratic representation, expansionism and imperialism, discrimination against minorities, cult of personality (especially under Stalin) and totalitarianism. One of the greatest crimes of humanity, the Holodomor ^[201], was committed by the Soviet state under Stalin (though it's a matter of debate as to whether this actually qualifies as a genocide, as some historians state Stalin was motivated merely by stubborn denial of his own incompetence rather than disdain for Ukrainians as an ethnic group, though he was racist and indeed targeted certain ethnic groups in the USSR).

The Soviet Union is many times credited with defeating Nazi Germany under Hitler, but before Hitler's invasion of the USSR, the partitioning of Poland and the Baltic States happened as part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, ^[202] a treaty of non-aggression between Hitler and Stalin. In essence, Stalin and the Soviets enabled and cooperated with the Nazis in order to expand the influence of communism. In addition, the Soviet Union was previously in talks to become the fourth axis power, before the Nazis invaded Russia and broke the peace treaty. Interestingly enough, neo-nazis today use an anti-semitic dog whistle that was originally founded in the USSR: "rootless cosmopolitan", ^[203] an anti-semitic accusation levied against Jews in the USSR accused of being capitalists and traitors of socialism, inspired by the conspiracy of the (non-existent) Doctors' plot. The term "red fascism" may also be used by anarchists and democratic socialists to distance themselves from the horrors of the Soviet past. Ironically, ruscists (Russian fascists) have pointed to that era of brutal authoritarianism as a time of great Russian pride, claiming that the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a call to defeat Nazis within the country ^[204].

Putinism/Ruscism (Russia)[edit]

The Z symbol, the current de facto symbol of Putinist Russia.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian nationalism began to grow as citizens of the new Russian federation saw the union as part of the “good old days” ^[205] and a time when there was a great source of Russian pride. But this distinctly Russian mutation of fascism took its time to grow. While many still remember the Nazi invasion of the USSR, Russian fascists and Russian Neo-Nazis nonetheless became very popular among the hyper-masculine corners of Russian society, which was frankly devastated by the 1990s. Nationalistic men who had nothing turned to modern day fascism to give them a sense of belonging, and more to the point, someone to hate, someone to scapegoat, and eventually, someone to crush in accordance with the regime's wishes. This means Russian rightists are just as homophobic, transphobic, anti-feminist, and anti-Muslim (among other things) as American rightists.

Russian fascists only truly gained power after Vladimir Putin became President in 2000, who eventually chose to use them as a pro-regime sledgehammer whenever his rule was threatened or his popularity waned amid protests against his policies. Unlike the chaotic Yeltsin years, Putin offered the public a simple social contract: leave the politics to the politicians and the government will leave you alone. What this meant was to turn the Russian population functionally apolitical, allowing them to be susceptible to one of the most effective propaganda machines in modern history. The corresponding post-truth thought, as well as the dismantling and eroding of democratic institutions over time effectively turned Russia into a dictatorship before Putin even finished his first term.

It only truly took hold after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2022, when Putin used a mix of imperialist mythology ^[206], reality-defying scapegoating, plain old whining (about Russia's neighbors joining NATO), and outright lying to paint Ukraine as a Neo-Nazi puppet state of the West. But the invasion's fuck-ups were so severe, the repeated losses were so great, and the incompetence was so monumental, Putin's propaganda network collapsed overnight, and his image as the untouchable strongman weakened for the first real time in decades. In response, Putin cracked down on a totalitarian level not seen since Stalin; he arrested people doing something as as simple as holding paper saying "No War" ^[207], because it's not a war, just a "special military operation." Despite Putin and the Kremlin’s repeated lies of denazifying Ukraine, the Russian military has utilized Neo-Nazis in its war effort. This is a direct case of Schizofascism in action. Ruscists themselves are fascists while accusing dissidents and other opponents of being fascists instead.

Russia’s massive territory and racial homogeneity, mixed with imperialist, irredentist, revanchist, and territorial ambitions and humiliation after the fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent glorification and lionization of the Soviet era created the perfect recipe for a fascist dictatorship and movement to emerge. Much like its Soviet predecessor, Russia treats its ethnic minorities abysmally and often uses soldiers from these minority groups as cannon fodder, leading to accusations of Putin’s Russia having a racial angle to some of their human rights abuses.^[208]

Trumpism (United States)[edit]

Symbol of QAnon.

There was always an undercurrent of fascistic behavior and ideological leanings within the United States that foreshadowed the rise of Mussolini and Hitler later in the 20^th century (such as the Ku Klux Klan). Hitler was himself directly inspired by American racism,^[209]:2,9 eugenics, white supremacy, and the system of Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws. These directly influenced the formation of Nazi Germany's Nuremburg Laws that were used to persecute German Jews.^[210]:78-88 Anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibited interracial marriages in 30 of 48 states, was adopted by the Nazis to legislate against interracial marriage with Jews, precisely because the United States was the harshest against interracial marriage, with some states threatening severe criminal punishment, again something the Nazis were "very eager" to emulate.^[210]:78-88 "As for race mixing between the sexes, the United States stood at the forefront there as well. America was a beacon of anti-miscegenation law, with thirty different state regimes—many of them outside the South, and all of them … carefully studied, catalogued, and debated by Nazi lawyers."^[211]:12 The Nazis felt that the American legal use of the one-drop rule was too extreme,^[211]:77 so their Nuremberg Laws, taking its cues from America, began to systematize the criminalization of marriage and sex between Jewish and German people.^[211]:83

KKK propaganda sheet music from 1923.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler himself called America the "one state" making progress toward "the creation of the kind of order he wanted for Germany", specifically progress toward a primarily racial conception of citizenship,^[212] by "excluding certain races from naturalization."^[213]:658 In 1935, the National Socialist Handbook on Law and Legislation, a basic guide for Nazis as they built their new society, would declare that "the United States had achieved the "fundamental recognition" of the need for a race state."^[212] Hitler was particularly fascinated by manifest destiny, even saying "One thing the Americans have and which we lack is the sense of vast open spaces,"^[214]:15 echoing how America's manifest destiny called for and actually succeeded in stealing as much land as possible for white settlers from everyone else. He wrote approvingly of how white settlers in America "gunned down the millions of redskins to a few hundred thousand."^[215] German lawyer Heinrich Krieger, an exchange student in at the University of Arkansas School of Law, became “the single most important figure in the Nazi assimilation of American race law,” as he sought to "deploy historical and legal knowledge" in the service of "Aryan racial purity."^[216] The Nazis saw the United States as ultimately a kindred spirit in the thrall of white supremacy and the weaponization of race against undesirables.^{[216][215][217]}

The Ku Klux Klan, an entirely American movement, was made up of ex-Confederates who absolutely refused to accept a reality and world where Blacks were freedmen, and explicitly sought not only to return to the "good old days" of Blacks being lesser, but actively enacted a campaign of mass terror, brutality, and violence against blacks, as they carried out hundreds if not thousands of anti-Black lynchings all over the nation. Klansmen found common cause with Mussolini, as Klan-aligned newspaper Imperial Night Hawk asserted that Mussolini’s fight to crush "communism and anarchy" was "an entirely worthy cause".^[218] The Klan, Nazism, and Italian fascism all were movements that emerged from the crucible of war in times of "economic difficulty, class polarization, and political impasse."^[218] Each mobilized men and women from a broad spectrum of the population "but had particular attraction for the petite bourgeoisie."^[218] Each of these movements also "enlisted the active backing or toleration of important members of the established elite and gained strength from the legitimacy thus bestowed."^[218] They also "exerted particular appeal for members of the police and armed forces," who in turn provided aid and cover for the movements’ extralegal terror.^[218] All three exploited working class anxieties to their advantage against their scapegoats while pretending to be a friend to labor and the workers. Finally, all three movements had similar organizational styles in their "conscious emphasis on the irrational," on "liturgical rituals," and on "public displays of power."^[218] There were many differences, from the Klan's reverence to Protestanism, lack of a true personality cult, disregard for dictatorship (at least rhetorically), fading sense of economic hardship by the mid-1920s (thereby depriving it of "resentment politics"), and equal fading of its sense of urgency as labor's power declined amid the Red Scares.^[218] "Without extreme conditions, extreme measures enjoyed less legitimacy."^[218]

The rise of fascism in the United States is evident through a "politics of resentment" rooted in authentic American piety and nativism that sometimes leads to violence against some of the very same "internal enemies" once targeted by the Nazis, "such as homosexuals and defenders of abortion rights." Fears of fascism grew particularly during Donald Trump's presidency, as his habit of scapegoating entire groups, glorification and direct incitement of violence, imagined grievances, anti-intellectualism, appeals to a false golden age, authoritarian crackdown on protesters and activists, dehumanizing language towards minorities, and machismo personality cult all paralleled that of Mussolini. But this also included policies such as concentration camps on the border, kidnapping peaceful demonstrators, teargassing protesters, giving non-consensual hysterectomies to immigrant detainee women (a borderline-genocidal act), and employing Homeland Security as an unaccountable paramilitary secret police force. It's not for nothing that actual Neo-Nazis love Trump.^[219][220] Trump's attempted self-coup on January 6, 2021 on the backs of fascist mob violence has made it clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it really can happen here, and it must be confronted and subdued before it ever has a chance at power ever again.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

• The Strange, Strange Story of the Gay Fascists by Johann Hari (Oct 21, 2008, 06:16 PM EDT; Updated May 25, 2011) Huffington Post, an essay on rampant homophobes with fascist beliefs who turn out to be in the closet

Notes[edit]

References[edit]